Page 21 of Red Snow
Detective Jarrod Granger
“AS MUCH ASI want to help with whatever you’re investigating, I can’t give up the security video without a court order.”
Jim Caine, owner of Chilkoot Charlie’s, is being a real pain in my fucking ass. I can tell he means well in his oversized, light blue Alaska Aces hockey jersey, but he’s picked a bad day to be annoying. We’ve only been in Koot’s for what feels like five seconds, and Marcus has said all the right things, but Jim is doing what you’d expect a local business owner to do. He’s willing to help, but he won’t give up something that belongs to him without being ordered to do it.
We came in and asked Jim to give us the security video from his bar on the night Brenda Cox was here, and he was all smiles right from the jump, but even with the smile, he said no. After listening to Marcus try to say all the nicest things he could to get Jim to cooperate so we could have the tape sooner rather than later, I’m feeling irked. My day started with a phone call at five in the morning telling me to hurry my ass up and get to Creekside Park Elementary School, and I had to jump my naked ass up and scramble to get to the ghastly crime scene. I followed that up with two interviews by a liar and a cheater who’s our only suspect, and now we’re here begging for help, and this fucker won’t give it to us. It’s just been too long of a day for this shit.
“Listen,” I speak up after Jim denies Marcus’s request once again. Even my partner looks fed up with Jim and his shit. “I know you don’t have to give us the tape, Mr. Caine, but I’m not in the mood for any bullshit right now. I also know the media was all over the scene while we were doing cleanup, and the whole city is talking about what was found at the school, so this isn’t new to you. This has been the longest fucking day I’ve had in a while. This case is big, and you know we’re after a killer. This killer needs to be brought to justicefast, and we have reason to believe that he or she may have been in your bar. It may be a long shot, but a long shot is better than no shot at all. So why don’t you do us a favor and stop being a big hairy tranny dick, and give us the fucking goddamn tape from Thursday night?”
Out of my peripheral vision, I can see Marcus’s eyes bulging in shock, and Jim doesn’t look much better. His mouth is wide open at first, but he closes it and clenches his jaw tight. His long, typical-Alaskan-beard seems to tremble from the pressure and I can see his angered breathing under his jersey.
Marcus sees how angry I’ve made the life-long Alaskan, and clears his throat in an attempt to ease the tension.
“What my partner means to say is,” he begins, but Jim cuts him off.
“I don’t want to fucking hear it,” he snips, trying to restrain himself. “This is my place of business, and I don’t give a fuck who you think you are, I have my rights. I’m not giving you shit until you come back with a court order. Now get the fuck out of my bar.”
I have words right on the tip of my tongue ready to fire back, but Marcus puts a hand on my shoulder and speaks for me.
“I apologize for the inconvenience,” he says, gritting his teeth. “We’ll go, but I promise you we’ll be back with a warrant for the video from that night.”
“I guess I’ll deal with it when you come back then,” Jim says before turning on his heel and disappearing into the kitchen of the large establishment.
Marcus looks at me, shaking his head in disapproval as we walk out of Koot’s in defeat.
“Jarrod, what the fuck, bro?” he says to me once we’re back in the cruiser. He steps on the gas and sets a course for headquarters.
“What? He was being a prick,” I say, shrugging. I couldn’t care less about Jim Caine’s feelings.
“Yeah he was, but you can’t call a guy a big hairy tranny dick without him getting offended,” Marcus says behind a chuckle.
“Fuck his feelings. A woman got her head cut off, and he wants to sit up there and try to protect the privacy of his patrons? We don’t have time for shit like this. It’s gonna take at least a day to get a judge to sign off on a warrant, and this is the only lead we have right now. In fact, it might not even be a lead. We won’t know until we see it, and we can’t afford to wait around for a judge to be in a good mood. It’s an unnecessary hoop to jump through, and while we’re jumping, Brenda’s killer is chilling on his couch with a cold beer. It just sucks.”
“Yeah it does, but we’re going to be okay,” Marcus tries to reassure me. “I know today has been a long day, but it’s still our first day. We’re off to an okay start for it being day one. You just seem extra stressed. Is this about the case or is it about Stacey wanting to see you tonight?”
I cut my eyes at Marcus who doesn’t look at me, keeping his eyes glued to the snowy road.
“Both,” I confess. “I want this killer brought in right now, but sure, the Stacey thing is in the back of my mind too, I admit it.”
“That’s understandable, as far as I’m concerned. You guys had a beautiful thing going on until work started getting in the way. I get why you’d be hung up on her.”
“I’m not hung up on her.”
“Okay. Sure you’re not,” Marcus says, grinning. I know what he’s thinking, but I ignore it. “What are you planning on saying when you see her tonight?”
“I have no idea. When I think about it, I just get nervous. I guess I’ll figure it out once I see her. She didn’t say why she wanted to see me, so I don’t even know what she plans on saying to me.”
“What if she wants to get back together?”
Suddenly, my heart feels like it’s about to pump itself into cardiac arrest. I feel nervous and instantly sweaty when I think about the possibility of Stacey wanting to get back together.
“Umm, I don’t know,” I reply, looking out the window so Marcus doesn’t see the nervous look on my face. “I haven’t thought about that. I doubt that’s what she wants. She made that clear when she broke it off.”
“Okay, let’s stop bullshitting. You know you’ve thought about it.”
“No I haven’t! I just . . . I don’t know, man. We’ll see when she shows up. Fuck.”
Marcus lets out another chuckle as he finally glances at me. “Look at you. Just admit it, bro, you still love that girl.”
